Boris Slams ‘Cost of Ken’

Conservative Mayoral candidate Boris Johnson has sought to link Ken Livingstone to the economic policies of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair saying his period on office saw “£7,600 slapped on top by Gordon Brown in stamp duty compared to £1,230 when Livingstone first took office.”

The comments came in a speech on the cost of living in London where Johnson was joined by Councillor Stephen Greenhalgh and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne MP.

Mr Johnson said private sector tenants were paying an average of £843 a month while “council tenants across London faced sharp increases in their rents last year of an average £18 a month.”

Highlighting the difference in quality of life between income brackets Johnson said: “After eight years of a Labour Mayor and ten years of a Labour Government a child born in Haringey is three times more likely to die at birth than a child born in Richmond.

And if you travel eight stops on the Jubilee line from Westminster to Canning Town – the average life expectancy of the surrounding communities declines by eight years.”